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Do you order food through delivery services or restaurants directly? A Rochester eatery shares how this impacts business

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- Food delivery has never been more popular than right now, but delivery services like Grub Hub, Door Dash or Uber Eats may be hurting local businesses.

Which is why many locally-owned restaurants across the country are asking customers to directly order through them instead of third-party delivery services.

Newt's, a locally owned restaurant, started in Rochester in the 1980s, and has three locations in the city. Grub Hub, and Door Dash provide delivery service for Newt's. Ashley King, Newt's General Manager, said those options allow the establishment to reach more customers.

"We're definitely appreciative of the sales that it generated. There's a lot of people that can't leave their homes, and it helps us get sales," King said.

But making orders available on those services comes with a cost.

"They [Door Dash] charge us a commission. Right now, it's reduced by 50% because of the coronavirus. But they're still charging us. I'm not sure what the percentage is but it is taking out of the orders that we have each week," King said.

She said on Wednesday the restaurant received $800 worth of orders through Door Dash.

"Last week, I think we sold close to $2,000 and they took like $300 from us," King said. That works out to about 15% of the total order, but that's not the only concern.

"We don't get the tips from Door Dash, so we get the sales. But the staff doesn't get tips so this is an industry where we live on tips so that extra industry that we get to take home so this pandemic has really changed that in that aspect," King said

"We prefer curbside. I guess, because then we know it's going directly to us. Obviously, we understand this is a unique situation and there are people who don't want to leave their homes, and can't leave their homes. So I don't want to deter Door Dash or get rid of it completely cause it has helped us," King said.

Newt's says since the end of the stay- at -home order, take out and delivery orders have increased.

Newt's is now also working on creating a makeshift patios for outside dining at the north and south locations once it's allowed on June 1st.